I am a 24 year old college graduate who runs a sports memorabilia business on Ebay. Currently, I am planning to open up a joint partnership under a corporate name to attain a larger presence in the collectibles world. As of 4 months ago, I was working contributing to my 401K. After enduring a broken foot, I stopped doing manual labor and decided to concentrate full-time on my "hobby". A few weeks ago, I received a notice from Principal that my 401K contributions needed to be addressed: either distributed to me in cash or rolled over into an IRA. I only have $3,500 in my 401K. After calling Principal, they sent me a heap of forms to fill out to convert my holdings to a Roth IRA. Here is my question: Am I doing the right thing? I plan to contribute the maximum $2000, as my income falls under the $95,000 for a single filer. The idea of researching stocks and investing with my own insight and opinions is very fulfilling for me. This is why the Foolish Four approach looks great, but Prudential is not a discount broker. What should I do? I am investing for long-term growth, not looking to even touch this nest egg until I am young and gray =) Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Joe

I am a 24 year old college graduate who runs a sports memorabilia business on Ebay. Currently, I am planning to open up a joint partnership under a corporate name to attain a larger presence in the collectibles world. As of 4 months ago, I was working contributing to my 401K. After enduring a broken foot, I stopped doing manual labor and decided to concentrate full-time on my "hobby". A few weeks ago, I received a notice from Principal that my 401K contributions needed to be addressed: either distributed to me in cash or rolled over into an IRA. I only have $3,500 in my 401K. After calling Principal, they sent me a heap of forms to fill out to convert my holdings to a Roth IRA. Here is my question: Am I doing the right thing? I plan to contribute the maximum $2000, as my income falls under the $95,000 for a single filer. The idea of researching stocks and investing with my own insight and opinions is very fulfilling for me. This is why the Foolish Four approach looks great, but Prudential is not a discount broker. What should I do? I am investing for long-term growth, not looking to even touch this nest egg until I am young and gray =) Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Joe

Sounds ok. The ROTH is the way to go.

I would use mutual funds until you billed up a bigger fund. S&P index probably. Look for a mutual fund co like Vanguard.